I finished a successful 12 week diet where I got from 23% down to somewhere around 15% bodyfat at 225lbs (depleted). Since then I have been enjoying a bulk/recomp rephase but now need to get myself in a decent position to do a 16 week prep in the new year.

Another successful week here. I am surprised that my waist measurements haven't changed as much this week as in the mirror it feels much tighter and the ab outlines are coming through.

Training has been great except for not being able to maintain a "pump" due to the lack of carbs. Workouts at the weekends are much better and normally go on for 1.5hrs+ due to all the fuel.

Weight loss is definitely not linear, as expected from the RFL/Re-feed, however each week on the graph looks the same which is nice to see.

This week things will be slightly different as I have a work event on Thursday so will be moving my higher calorie day till then. 4 days of RFL in a row won't be an issue though.

My weekly low weight was 227.6lbs which is the lightest I have been in about 4 years and I am definitely the leanest I have been. I have a bit off an odd challenge that I have set myself to be 220lbs by the time I go back to my university city for a catch up with my old housemates. This is on 03/12 so will be a push but I am fairly sure that with a week of RFL with no re-feeds and some depletion workouts I will do it. Then I will have a 3 day re-feed before moving to a gentler deficit to try and undo any metabolic adaptations that have occured.

tellurium

11-28-2016 06:36 AM

Week 4 Check In
Weight: 228.4 (-1.8/-17.3)
No other measurements

Weight seems to still be dropping. Average for the week was 228lbs and saw 226 on the scales which is a new low for this cut (and for the last 3-4 years).

My shoulder injury is persistent and restricts me to isolations for chest with partial range of motion and minimal shoulder work. I'm hoping that I'm doing enough to stimulate them to prevent catabolism but who knows.

This week I am away 3/7 days so will be nearly impossible to stick to pure RFL but I intend to hit some low calories and try to fit in workouts. I will be happy with 1-1.5lb loss this week.

From next week I will be reducing RFL to 2 days and running a more moderate deficit thus reducing the size of the refeed at the weekends as it tends to get out of control.

I am nowhere near where I want my physique to be however I am slowly moving in the right direction and I am excited to see how much change I can make.

Training will remain the same with 4-5 lifting days but will be focussing on rehabing my shoulder as I have all but had to cut out direct delt work and chest training is not optimal.

Christmas will be a re-feed and then I'll take my diet break and hit maintenacne for 2 weeks before commencing my 16 week diet.

My goal is to see sub 220lbs on the scale and drop another 0.5" from both waist measurements. This will hopefully mean that my abs will be slightly more clear (but that remains to be seen). I will post pictures in 3 weeks of where I am at.

Random Ramblings

This is the lightest and arguably the leanest I have been in many years and probably the best that my physique has looked. I focused on gaining as much mass and strength for 99% of my lifting "career" with aesthetics taking a back seat. After losing an initial 30lbs of fat and still looking like crap, I had a realisation that I been chasing either scale weight or gym PB's with no regard for my appearance.

Currently I would say that I am around 14% bodyfat and have typical male fat patterns. My legs and arms are lean and the most vascular they have been but my mid section and chest are holding a fair bit of fat still.

Plucking a number out of the air, I would say that I will need to be in the region of 200lbs to be stage ready so have a fair bit of work to go.

tellurium

12-12-2016 03:23 AM

Week 6 Check In
Weight: 226.6 (0/-19.1)
No other measurements

After checking in last week I decided that for longevity, I needed to have a more sensible game plan. So RFL has been dropped and a more reasonable calorie deficit will be in place. Eating carbs feels great and the quality of sleep, workouts and general energy is great.

The scale hasn't changed much but as I am now fully carbed up and not depleted I am sure I had some residual fat loss.

Will stick to this for 2 weeks until Christmas and then do 2 weeks at or just below maintenance.